Atlantic Corp. (Atlantic Packaging), Wilmington, N.C., USA, this week announced a definitive agreement to purchase IP's three largest paperboard converting facilities in Greensboro, N.C., Hazleton, Pa., and Sturgis, Mich. Atlantic has 12 branch locations across the Southeast U.S., Dominican Republic, and Central America, and employs 750 people. It is a nationwide packaging products and equipment supplier to consumer products manufacturers, with paper converting facilities (similar to those acquired from IP) in several current locations.

 

"This is a real game changer for our family company," said Rusty Carter, Atlantic president. "Overnight this gives us a major presence for all of our business segments in the Southeast, Northeast, Midwest, and soon the Southwest, with a planned new facility in Dallas, giving us a full national footprint. That is big for everyone at Atlantic. It makes us national in every way.

 

"We enthusiastically welcome the IP employees to Atlantic and look forward to the many opportunities ahead for all of us. It is an honor for us to be working so closely now with our long time supplier IP. They are one of the world's premier paper producers," Carter added. 

 

The acquired IP facilities convert (sheet and rewind) bleached paperboard produced primarily at IP mills in Riegelwood, N.C., Augusta, Ga., and Texarkana, Texas. The sheeting plants serve as finishing departments and distribution centers for national product coverage.

 

Greg Gibson, VP and GM of coated paperboard for IP said that "Atlantic Packaging is a leading paperboard converter with a great reputation for quality and service. This transaction offers considerable marketplace advantages for both companies. International Paper gains significant supply chain flexibility to support our Carolina and Everest brands and job opportunities for our employees in three facilities. Atlantic Packaging gains incredible talent and expertise, along with an expanded manufacturing system and marketplace presence in their core converting operations."

 

Carter further noted that "being so closely aligned with a Fortune 500 company like IP is truly exciting for our small company. We have worked with IP for years, but this acquisition places us in a very strong position to support our common customers and streamline the entire supply chain."

 

After the purchase, Atlantic will employ more than 900 people and will be the largest converter of bleached paperboard in North America.

Atlantic began in the small town of Tabor City, N.C. in 1946 as a weekly newspaper and has grown into one of the top 25 privately held companies in North Carolina. Founder W. Horace Carter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1952 for an aggressive newspaper campaign with the Tabor City Tribune against the Ku Klux Klan. He died in 2009.